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SD Card - System Memory - Internal Memory !

Hi all,
I've got some questions regarding the phone's memory.
When I open the App Manager and I click on "Storage" it shows me that the phone has:
System Memory
Internal Memory
SD Card
Using the app "App 2 SD" my apps are transferred only from either System memory to Internal memory or vice-versa.
This App 2 SD seems not to send my apps to my EXTERNAL SD Card (where I have plenty of memory).
Could someone please explain the different between system and internal memory?
And, once and for all, how can I move/transfer ALL apps downloaded from the market to my EXTERNAL SD Card?
Can I do that manually? how?
Another app from the market? which one?
And how about the Gameloft games? is there any way to move them?
Another question is that after updating for the GB some apps seem to open themselves and they keep running on the background (i.e. Google Maps, LG Smart etc), is there anything that can be done to stop them to start?
Thanks in advance,
J

tourjefferson said:
Hi all,
I've got some questions regarding the phone's memory.
When I open the App Manager and I click on "Storage" it shows me that the phone has:
System Memory
Internal Memory
SD Card
Using the app "App 2 SD" my apps are transferred only from either System memory to Internal memory or vice-versa.
This App 2 SD seems not to send my apps to my EXTERNAL SD Card (where I have plenty of memory).
Could someone please explain the different between system and internal memory?
And, once and for all, how can I move/transfer ALL apps downloaded from the market to my EXTERNAL SD Card?
Can I do that manually? how?
Another app from the market? which one?
And how about the Gameloft games? is there any way to move them?
Another question is that after updating for the GB some apps seem to open themselves and they keep running on the background (i.e. Google Maps, LG Smart etc), is there anything that can be done to stop them to start?
Thanks in advance,
J
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system memory is the memory reserved for the OS and its applications. Internal memory is the rest of the phones memory that is used to store anything else (included apps you move with app2sd)
To move gameloft games to the external sd there is a thread so look it up a bit.
As for apps running themselves it is the way android works. It keeps running apps it "thinks" you might use so when you actually use them the load a lot faster. No worries there as when your phone needs the extra memory (running an HD game for example) it shuts down all apps that are not necessary. If you still want to prevent them from running you can use a task manager to freeze them but you need root.

jimakos29 said:
system memory is the memory reserved for the OS and its applications. Internal memory is the rest of the phones memory that is used to store anything else (included apps you move with app2sd)
To move gameloft games to the external sd there is a thread so look it up a bit.
As for apps running themselves it is the way android works. It keeps running apps it "thinks" you might use so when you actually use them the load a lot faster. No worries there as when your phone needs the extra memory (running an HD game for example) it shuts down all apps that are not necessary. If you still want to prevent them from running you can use a task manager to freeze them but you need root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for your reply.
I have seen the thread regarding Gameloft games, but if I'm not mistaken my phone need to be rooted, which I'm not planning to do any time soon. So that thread doesn't help me to get rid of the games from my internal memory.
Also, the App 2 SD app doesn't send the apps that I have in the internal memory to the external SD. It keeps sending the apps to(or from) internal and system memory.
So, I've got an empty external SD card that I can't transfer anything there even using an app that supposed to do that.
Is there anyway that I can move the apps manually?
Regarding the apps that keep running without need, that didn't happen when I had Froyo and it seems to me that running several apps on the background can cost my battery juice, so this is not so clever.

Apps did run in background on froyo as I rooted specifically to stop some but maybe they were not doing so when you checked as they stop in certain circumstances.
As for the sd thing you are right and it sucks but for some reason lg made it so when we choose install to sd it goes to internal sd card and I have yet to find way around this though for me its not a problem as I use my actual external sd card as storage for camera app and backups instead but the internal one will fit plenty of apps on.
Dave
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk

I noticed too my 32gb external card is not used by app2sd apps.
Now i swapped the cards in a configfile, and after restart i have 32gb internal sd and 8gb external so it is working.
I got this from the folloing thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701

But won't that mean that mess up apps or cause problems, for example if you click to format or unmount external sd wont it try doing that to the internal one?
Dave

Of course, you should not take out the sd or format it after the switch. If you format internal sd, it would in fact format the external sd. Flashing to a new rom wil just use the internal sd again. Just be carefull. You can copy data to your computer as backup before you try this.
I like this sofar, my downloads, photos, films and music is placed directly on the big sd now.
Peter

Pjedr said:
Of course, you should not take out the sd or format it after the switch. If you format internal sd, it would in fact format the external sd. Flashing to a new rom wil just use the internal sd again. Just be carefull. You can copy data to your computer as backup before you try this.
I like this sofar, my downloads, photos, films and music is placed directly on the big sd now.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All my photos films and music are on external sd already and I still have four gigabytes of the internal sd card free so will stick with things as they are rather than hack it though is nice to know it is possible
Dave

mistermentality said:
All my photos films and music are on external sd already and I still have four gigabytes of the internal sd card free so will stick with things as they are rather than hack it though is nice to know it is possible
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, but I don't have space lol
Anyway, found out that the problem with app running themselves on the background are worst than I first thought.
All kinds of apps seem to start themselves and keep running, that caused my phone to loose a 100% battery over the night!
Is anyone having this problem?

Are you sure its the apps? I had severe battery drain and had to calibrate it then let it die and recharge while off to sort it.
I also rooted and use gemini app manager to stop apps auto running.
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk

mistermentality said:
Are you sure its the apps? I had severe battery drain and had to calibrate it then let it die and recharge while off to sort it.
I also rooted and use gemini app manager to stop apps auto running.
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 99% sure that the problem are the apps running.
Before, with Froyo, I didn't have this problem (apps starting themselves) and the battery was just fine.
I've realised something recently though, when I was using the app "App 2 SD" I was sending some apps to my System Memory in order to free space on Internal Memory.
What I noticed was that the apps in the System memory were the ones starting up themselves, so I moved them back to internal memory and they seem not to be starting again.
I'm keeping an eye on it because it's weird, but it's been almost one full day and my battery is doing okay, or that is what least seems to appear on my screen.

Pjedr said:
I noticed too my 32gb external card is not used by app2sd apps.
Now i swapped the cards in a configfile, and after restart i have 32gb internal sd and 8gb external so it is working.
I got this from the folloing thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
Which config file is this? Is this the config file for apps2sd or the vold.stab file? (I could no longer the thread in your link)
Thanks

I think apps auto running in background is the major bug in GB, and i also have this problem so you are not alone or the only one having this problem

[Q] Moving apps to the external SD card

Hi all. Let me first say that I love my Blaze. My last phone was the Galaxy S Vibrant I. This phone is quite a bit faster, and I like that it has a flash and front facing camera. The first thing I did was root it, install Titanium Backup and used it to delete the bloatware apps that came pre-installed. One thing I was a bit disappointed in however is the lack of memory.
I know someone else asked this earlier, but I never saw an answer. The phone has its own built-in memory, and an internal usb memory, along with the external sd card. When you want to move an app to the sd card, it puts it on the internal usb card. I haven't found a way (or an app) that will let you move them to the external card. This is an issue since the Blaze comes with a lot less memory than my old Vibrant. For anyone who likes to install games, 1 or 2 games will max out the memory. I chatted with a Samsung rep online and they were clueless. It upsets me a bit that this phone is 2 yrs older than my Vibrant and has so much less internal memory.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but couldn't you just use Root Browser to move the apps? The path to it, I believe is sdcard/external_sd
Sent from my SGH-T769 using XDA

And all the apps are in system/app folder.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using XDA

So you can just move the apk file manually to the external sd card and it will still work? Its not like a computer where the shortcut will be looking for it in a particular place?

I asked earlier about sending apps to the external sd card.
I am not sure if you can do it with Es or another took, but I dragged and dropped when mounted to a PC. I am now seeing widgets and shortcuts disappear, for apps I didn't even move.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium

Widgets installed on SD cards don't work properly, or at all in my experience. It's an android limitation of sorts. I think it's intentional, some sort of side effect with the idiosyncracies (however that is spelled) with what happens to an app if it's running on the sd card and you eject it from the phone or mount it to the computer.
One example of this that I'm familiar with is poweramp. It can be installed to the sd card, but the guy made a widget addon that stays on the phone specifically because if it's loaded on the sd card the widget doesn't work.
And yes, I'm aware that you said it was even for apps that you didn't move.......I'm taking a guess that whatever widget your'e talking about is not actually an app you moved on the sd card, but is RELATED to it, in some way.
Or maybe it's just a case of craziness happening, and it's an achilles heel the phone has.
If that's the case......sigh, I swear my next phone better be straight out of a science fiction movie or I will just be an angry person.

I don't understand why Samsung would make this phone with two internal memory storage devices instead of just one. Whats the use of being able to use a large external card if you can't move apps over to it. The two internal ones are small. They could have just been combined into a bigger one.

Is it normal for some apps on the sd to sometimes not load when disconnecting from the computer or rebooting the phone?

This might help. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

Use of SD CARD

When I had a P1000, I used a lot the feature of sending applications and games and its data files to my SD CARD with a single purpose: leave the internal 16Gb memory as free as possible for better perfomance.
Now I have a rooted P6200 and I only can use my SD CARD for storing music and videos because I have no option of MOVE TO SD CARD anymore.
I also tried some applications that MOVE TO SD CARD, but none of them work.
I called the SAMSUNG SUPPORT and they told me I should be able to move to SD, but I read somewhere that it's something about the way that Android 3 and 4 manage partitions... what makes me believe I will not be able.
So, I am confused.
Can I move applications to SD CARD or not?
Can I make a application store data on SD CARD? Example: MailDroid or a game that consumes a lot of the memory - I would prefer to store data on the SD card.
Does anybody have a hint for that?
Thank you!

mario.renor said:
When I had a P1000, I used a lot the feature of sending applications and games and its data files to my SD CARD with a single purpose: leave the internal 16Gb memory as free as possible for better perfomance.
Now I have a rooted P6200 and I only can use my SD CARD for storing music and videos because I have no option of MOVE TO SD CARD anymore.
I also tried some applications that MOVE TO SD CARD, but none of them work.
I called the SAMSUNG SUPPORT and they told me I should be able to move to SD, but I read somewhere that it's something about the way that Android 3 and 4 manage partitions... what makes me believe I will not be able.
So, I am confused.
Can I move applications to SD CARD or not?
Can I make a application store data on SD CARD? Example: MailDroid or a game that consumes a lot of the memory - I would prefer to store data on the SD card.
Does anybody have a hint for that?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some apps in the Google Play Market like app 2 sd or move to sd (something like that), you can try one of those.
Personally I have no experience on these apps since I still have plenty of space, but you can read a little the features and see if that works for you

Unfortunately, APP2SD does not work to me
darkshadowx07 said:
There are some apps in the Google Play Market like app 2 sd or move to sd (something like that), you can try one of those.
Personally I have no experience on these apps since I still have plenty of space, but you can read a little the features and see if that works for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your suggestion, but when APP2SD starts, I receive this message:
Your device has no real primary external storage or primary storage is emulated
APP2SD will not support move 2 card.
I dont understand this message. I have the 16Gb internal memory plus a 32Gb SD card as s imple a s it can b e, but it is not moving to S D.
P lease someone help me how to solve it.
By the way, the 32Gb SD is fully recognized by the P6200. I can see all my files regularly.

Link2sd may work, but I don't think there would be any performance gain from moving the apps over.
Sent from my myTouch 4g via Tapatalk

Can I get super user access without rooting? Link2SD tells me I have to allow it to move the app.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Kumabjorn said:
Can I get super user access without rooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Super User access is root access. so, no you can't.
Sent from my GT-P6210

From my point of view, rooting is something relatively easy, both to get and to lose: you just flash a zip from the default recovery. It does not even takes your flash count up. Basically, it's a single file that needs to be placed in "/system/bin/". If you need to send it to support, mount "system" as R/W and delete "su".
I could be wrong though, but you should really look into it. I think it is worth it.
By the way, I think you would have to partition your SD Card to use it with Link2SD...
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

[Q] Apps and external sd card storage on ICS. What gives?

Hey all,
I just rooted my ATT Galaxy S2 first time and I think the first time android phone in general. I have successfully got to where i want to be. I have internet tethering, uninstalled all the junk, I still sticking with base rom, as I am trying to figure out why CM10 would not boot up beyond loading screen, but thats another topic.
What i don't understand is why you would not be able to move apps to external storage sd card. I used to have htc, and was able to do that, but that was before ICS. I have done some research but not as successfully as i wanted to do.
I have come across "ICS SD Binder" on play.google.com. But I dont completely understand what exactly needs to be done. Or rather bit unsure which drop down item to select and how it might effect my sd card as well as how to move apps afterwards. I assume just relocating them into that folder.
So can some one tell me why is it such a pain to have apps on external sd card and may be point me to right threads on how to point to external sd card and move my apps there or how in general i can get my apps on my external sd card.
Much appreciated and thank you in advance everyone.
I just used grooveshark and audible for my listening and educational needs. Though audio books library isnt bad at 2 gigs. Audio files that i offline are about 6-8 gigs. And thats hits my SG2 internal storage limit : /
Much appriciated.

Why do you want them on the external? They're easy to replace. Store other stuff on the external
Edit: you can use tibu to move apps to the external, but they don't always work well there.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app

jd1639 said:
Why do you want them on the external? They're easy to replace. Store other stuff on the external
Edit: you can use tibu to move apps to the external, but they don't always work well there.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use app to sd on regular basis works great for me
sent via galaxy s2 skyrocket sgi727

I want to move audible and grooveshark to extranal sd so all their offline content which is about 8 gigs can reside on my 32 gig external drive.
AppMgr III (App 2 SD) on google play?

Apparently my external sd card not seen by that app only internal sd card. Which is useless....

apps2sd moves apps to internal sd not externl sd. dnt think there's a way to move to ext sd yet without assigning ext sd as internal sd and vice versa.
use search button there was a thread with this topic already
Sent from my NovoCrystal using xda premium

Actually this is what i was asking about.

Will App2SD work on an stock Galaxy Note 3

hi,
is it now possible to move apps from the internal storage to the SD-Card. Which of theese Apps will work, with an Note 3 (no root - just stock)?
With the Note 2 it wasn´t possible.

Note3 already have move to sd function on stock firmware right? Go to application manager and check it.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

No from all applications! Right?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

This is stock lol
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

It actually installs half the apps to the external SD by default....
Annoyingly. I've yet to find a way to turn it off. I have 22GB free internally, and 18MB on my 64GB MicroSD. I do not want the apps on my Media card! How the bloody hell do I turn it off?!

ShadowLea said:
It actually installs half the apps to the external SD by default....
Annoyingly. I've yet to find a way to turn it off. I have 22GB free internally, and 18MB on my 64GB MicroSD. I do not want the apps on my Media card! How the bloody hell do I turn it off?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha I just don't understand how you manage to curse in a specific way in every thread but you always make me laugh. Anyway my N900 doesn't do that but just download "AppMgr (either normal or pro) III (App 2 SD)" and manage them to select the ones you don't want in your precious sd (A part of me dies everytime I end with the space of another sd so I understand)
Sent from my SM-N900 using xda app-developers app

*GalaxyDev* said:
Hahaha I just don't understand how you manage to curse in a specific way in every thread but you always make me laugh. Anyway my N900 doesn't do that but just download "AppMgr (either normal or pro) III (App 2 SD)" and manage them to select the ones you don't want in your precious sd (A part of me dies everytime I end with the space of another sd so I understand)
Sent from my SM-N900 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Practice, practice, practice...
Well, The phone does tell me what app is on my SD (under apps/sd it has a green checkmark) and I can move it through there, but thank you for the reminder, I somehow completely forgot you could also use App2SD the other way around... :laugh:
Send From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk

ShadowLea said:
Practice, practice, practice...
Well, The phone does tell me what app is on my SD (under apps/sd it has a green checkmark) and I can move it through there, but thank you for the reminder, I somehow completely forgot you could also use App2SD the other way around... :laugh:
Send From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw

onours said:
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It(Samsung's) will allow you to move any app that doesn't impact on the system... Games should be fine as well as as any app not related to the system....
For instance, I have my Note 3 rooted by de la Vega method with xposed framework installed. Can't move any of the framework modules onto external sd card but games like Plants vs Zombies 2 are no problem...

onours said:
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't move system-essential files. Wallpapers also tend to make a fuss if you move them. Games and such work fine. No, you can't move Twitter, Youtube and the likes, for some unfathomable reason it sees that as essential. I call it Bloatware, but alas.
Anything else you can move. They end up in the .android_secure folder on your SD. (you can see that one even without root. Just enable hidden files.) I accidentally deleted that folder a while ago. The apps remained installed, but they could no longer be found on the device for launching. (even using S Finder.)
Anyway I was working in the opposite direction. As I said, My ExtSD is full, but my internal memory still has 13GB free. (I've moved things.)
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
32GB is more than enough for apps. I have 430 apps installed, amongst which several 1GB+ games, and still have 13GB free. The only thing I keep on my MicroSD in terms of apps are navigational data. (So I don't have to redownload all 5.8GB of that when my phone rolls over and dies, or I switch.)

ShadowLea said:
You can't move system-essential files. Wallpapers also tend to make a fuss if you move them. Games and such work fine. No, you can't move Twitter, Youtube and the likes, for some unfathomable reason it sees that as essential. I call it Bloatware, but alas.
Anything else you can move. They end up in the .android_secure folder on your SD. (you can see that one even without root. Just enable hidden files.) I accidentally deleted that folder a while ago. The apps remained installed, but they could no longer be found on the device for launching. (even using S Finder.)
Anyway I was working in the opposite direction. As I said, My ExtSD is full, but my internal memory still has 13GB free. (I've moved things.)
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
32GB is more than enough for apps. I have 430 apps installed, amongst which several 1GB+ games, and still have 13GB free. The only thing I keep on my MicroSD in terms of apps are navigational data. (So I don't have to redownload all 5.8GB of that when my phone rolls over and dies, or I switch.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guys C'MON.. offcourse I know that system app and or data cannot be moved to external "micro sd" unless you use a directory binder kinda app.
what I mean is altahough the app manager shows that app data is in SD (green tick) card my external "micro" sd cards .android_secure folder is empty and the only storage occupied is internal sd (32gb) on which the data is stored at android/obb
what the heck is wrong with my note 3

so is it just me?

Use FolderMount
Sent from my SM-N900W8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

ShadowLea said:
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my philosophy on storage, though it started with a separate drive for /home on Debian rather than with Windows, but has expanded to the point where I even have a specific hard drive for game installs on my WIN7 gaming rig.
Funny that before Google started going on about orphan files and the mess apps make on SD cards there wasn't one. My SD card was set up exactly how I wanted and data was shared nicely between apps.
Now there seems to be no option to stop putting junk files on there, an issue I haven't seen since 2.3, and even when I move them back the phantom folders for the apps that I've taken off the SD keep showing back up where I deleted them.